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The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) does not constitute a credible offensive threat against the United States or its Asian allies today, and this situation will not change dramatically over the coming decade. If anything, its overall capabilities relative to most of its potential rivals will diminish over the next ten years. These circumstances are a product of constrained strategic thinking in China about the role of airpower, the lack of funds needed for a comprehensive modernization program, logistics and maintenance problems, the limited training available to its pilots, and the absence of a capability to develop and manufacture advanced airpower weapon systems. Although some modern aircraft will be introduced into the PLAAF inventory during the next ten years, the rate and scale of these acquisitions will remain incremental and demonstrably insufficient to redefine the regional airpower balance.

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Table of Contents

The People's Liberation Army: Institutional Development and Defense Strategy

Chapter Three

The PLAAF's Formative Years: 1924-1960

Chapter Four

"Living in Interesting Times": The PLAAF in the 1960s

Chapter Five

The Reform Process Begins

Chapter Six

The PLAAF's Search for Airpower Strategy: Toward the 21st Century

Chapter Seven

PLAAF Education and Training

Chapter Eight

PLAAF Force Structure Trends

Chapter Nine

Conclusions and Implications

Appendix A

The Structure of the PLA, PLAAF, and Naval Aviation

Appendix B

The PLAAF Budget

Appendix C

The Political Commissar System

Appendix D

The PLAAF Rank System

Appendix E

Aircraft Procurement Programs

Appendix F

Fighter Aircraft Projection

Appendix G

Indigenous SAM Systems

Book Review Excerpts

"This book provides excellent chapters on the history of the PLAAF and evaluations of individual aircraft… This volume is the best military and industrial investigation of Chinese airpower since Richard Bueschel's Communist Chinese Air Power in 1968."

- Foreign Service Journal

"This informative volume sheds light not only on the People's Liberation Army Air Force, but also on the Chinese military more broadly."

- Foreign Affairs

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